Picture of the Week - 10/31/2013

Happy Halloween everyone! 

 

We just got done Trick or Treating.  Had a great time!  I love my little Bovengers!

 

Hope you all had a safe and Happy Halloween! 

 

Boo!

 

 

Picture of the Week - 10/24/2013

Wow!  The weather really took a turn toward colder temperatures this week!  We've been busy pulling out long pants and jackets and hoodies like crazy!  I'm not complaining though (even though I really hate being cold) because I love fall!  Our leaves are starting to change colors, the boys like to cuddle up under a blanket with me and dunkin donuts has pumpkin donuts!  Perfect!

 

There are definitely things I will miss about this summer.  I fear I will never again get to experience (at least daily) chubby legs sticking out of toddler-sized shorts.  BOO!  I will miss those dimply little knees!  To make up for it, I'm going to make Beckett wear footie pajamas every day!  :)

 

I'll also miss the ease of running outside without shoes and coats.  We are in and out a MILLION times a day, so this extra 3 minutes worth of prep adds up quickly.  To make up for it, I bought the little boys new mittens.  And Beck's have tigers on them.  And he's so so so excited to wear his tiger mittens.  (PS - My kids STILL can't put on gloves to save their lives...  I think being born in the south has made them incapable of understanding that it's ONE FINGER PER HOLE!)

 

I will most certainly miss the longer days.  It's a drag to drive to work in the dark and return home in the dark.  Upside...  the boys have actually slept past 6am a couple of times now that the sun isn't waking them up.  That's a win!  (Don't even talk to me about the looming time change.  I hate time change with a burning passion!  Yes, even the "good" one in the fall...)

 

One thing that I won't miss as the weather turns to winter is our fall schedule.  I am looking forward to the end of lacrosse season just so we can have an occasional weeknight meal together without having to rush right back out the door.  We have one more weekend of lacrosse unless the team decides to participate in a post-season tournament.  Given the facts that 1) it's cold, 2) I'm tired, and 3) the team is 1 and ... a bunch, I'm hoping we can call it quits after this weekend.  Football on the other hand...  yeah...  we're still going and likely to play through the first weekend in December if the team plays up to their potential and wins the league playoffs.  For anyone who has forgotten, we started practice in July.  That's a long season...

 

So here's to caramel apples and pumpkin lattes and orange leaves.  Here's to a warm sweater and heated seats in the car.  Here's to hot chocolate after practice and, yes even, football playoffs.  And especially, here's to footie jammies!  If only we all looked so cute in footie jammies...

 

Next week I'll share our Halloween costumes for the year.  I'm super excited about them.  The cuteness nearly killed me during our trial run/fitting session!

 

 

Picture of the Week - 10/17/2013

Saturday is Beckett's 2nd birthday.  And I've been stressed out about this birthday email for weeks.  This time it wasn't putting together the collage that had me worried.  Beck is a natural in front of the camera and I would be hard pressed to find a bad picture of him.  The thing I'm struggling with is the words.  There are just no words that I will ever be able to string together to describe Bucky.  Words will simply not do him justice.

 

I stopped to think about how my mellow, laid back baby has changed into a crazy, full of life toddler over the last 12 months and I was filled with a combination of amazement and pride - and fear.  You think I'm kidding...  Beckett has done things (and now says) things that leave me slack jawed.  After 3 big brothers there shouldn't be anything a new child can do to shock us, but he does.  Time after time after time.  A few recent examples:

- I had to tell him the other day to stop using Willow's tail as a rudder

- We *still* have cabinet locks on every cabinet in the kitchen because he refuses to stay out of them

- After playing with Zane in the toyroom for a while, they both came out with blue specked teeth.  Bob asked Zane if he was chewing on a crayon, which he vehemently denied.  So Bob asked Beck the same question and he looked his dad in the eye, said "Yep" and grinned a devilish grin 

- There have been more than a few times we've had to race onto a football or lacrosse field this fall chasing after a streaking (luckily clothed) toddler

- He will not, however, no matter how much we yell at him, leave his shoes on in the car

- He. Does. Not. Sit. Still.  EVER

- He loves anyone who will talk to him and will give perfect strangers a high five or a hug or his friends

- There is no fear of anything in him.  He doesn't fear heights, being upside down, water, or loud noises.  And I'm not sure he feels pain.

 

Beckett thinks he's 4 years old.  Or maybe 6.  He has more confidence than the typical 2 year old and really believes that if his brothers are doing something, anything, then he can do it too.  He colors and runs.  He throws balls and plays with cars.  He sits on a big chair and uses a big fork.  He insists on squeezing out his own ketchup.  He is a mimic of everything he sees and hears.  He is a sponge!

 

One of the big changes in the last 6 months or so is Beckett's vocabulary.  He talks all the time.  Loudly.  And if he's saying something and you aren't listening, he will say it over and over and over again.  Bob and I have been blessed with early talkers and Beck is no exception.  He knows more words than I can count and uses them in sentences and paragraphs and stories.  He's very communicative.  I love listening to his take on certain words, like Bocker for Spencer and of course Bucky for Beckett.  He sings, which is the most adorable thing EVER.  He knows his ABCs and some numbers.  He will tell you what sound any animal makes.

 

Even with all the changes, he is still one of the happiest little dudes I have ever been around.  He always has always, from the time he could work his little cheek muscles, had a smile on his face.  You can wake him from a dead sleep and he will simply sit up and say "Hi!". 

 

I know I have mentioned this before, but God really knows what he's doing when he matches up squishy newborn babies with their parents.  He somehow knew that Bucky would take a special kind of family.  He's not for the faint of heart.  Without some prior "breaking in" he might just have broken us!  But in God's knowing way, Beck was the perfect fit for our family.  Our grand finale. 

 

I know we are going to have some very high highs and some potentially very low lows with Beckett this year.  I know he's going to hit the terrible 2/3's early because he has done everything early.  And given his ability to shock me, I'm sure some of the things we are about to encounter with sweet Bucky will be impressive.  But I also know that at the end of the day, he will wrap those chubby little arms around my neck and insist on a hug and a kiss.  And for all the times I look at that little brown-eyed, blonde-haired boy and shake my head in disbelief, I will thank God for sharing him with us.  For he is grand indeed!

 

 

Picture of the Week - 10/10/2013

We are fully into FALL down here and loving every minute of it.  The weather is so so so nice!  Bright and sunny and warm without humidity.  Beautiful.  October is my favorite month in Georgia and this one is not letting me down!

 

This past weekend we made the annual trip to Burt's Pumpkin Farm.  I love this tradition.  We've gone every year since Spencer was 1.  We've been there when it's been super hot and freezing cold.  Bob and I were reminiscing about the first time we took Zane.  It was so cold that we had him wrapped in multiple blankets inside a baby carrier inside my coat!  But he went!  This year we got there early before the crowds and the boys had a blast.  Beckett walked around like he owned the place.  Zane was super pleasant.  The big boys were cooperative and ultra-focused on finding just the right pumpkin for their jack-o-lantern.  We even got Berber and Pappy to go with us - the DAY before Berber's knee replacement. 

 

Speaking of Berber...  thanks so much for all the prayers and well-wishes.  She came through the surgery with flying colors and is now back home rehabbing.  Beck and I went to see her last night and she looks great!  

 

I used the colors of Spencer's football team in this year's pumpkin collage.  Partly because they are great fall colors, but partly because they have a HUGE HUGE HUGE game coming up this weekend.  I haven't been this excited about a youth football game in a LONG time.  We are playing a rival team from just down the road.  Both teams are undefeated and sit atop the league rankings.  Spencer's team is also ranked #4 in the state by the youth sports media organization, Born to Compete.  (The Born to Compete organization is a big deal down here!)  We recently found out that Born to Compete is going to make this game their "Game of the Week"!  The parents are organizing noise makers and signs and extra people to cheer.  I have obtained knight costumes for my little boys so they can root on the Paladins in style!  AND it's going to be 80 degrees and sunny.  Sounds pretty perfect!  Let's hope we can bring home a big win!